Naruto Reborn
by Drayle
Summary: My retelling of Naruto. Been done, but not how I like it, so I'll be giving this a test drive. I suck at summaries.


"Why don't we tell a little about ourselves?"

Straight out of the academy, the newly dubbed Team 7 was on top of the school, getting to know each other. Naruto glanced around at his teammates. There was Sasuke Uchiha, the class prodigy. Also the towns being emo and god child. Whenever liked the raven headed boy, mostly because he never acknowledged Naruto. Then there was Sakura-chan, the class brain, and Naruto's crush. She was so awesome to him, even though she never agreed to a date with him, ever.

And then there was the teacher, Kakashi Hatake. Naruto... Really didn't like the guy, something about him seemed fake. Was he really his teacher? Apparently so.

"I guess I'll go first then." the cyclops started talking and Naruto half listened, thinking about the last couple days. He'd been failed on the exam, Mizuki tricked him, and he found out he had the Nine Tails Fox inside him. Needless to say it was a lot to take in. When it came his turn he said the same as he always did when people asked him about himself. Ramen ramen Hokage. He didn't listen to Sasuke or Sakura, it didn't really matter...

After Iruka-Sensei had saved him, Naruto had been taken to the Hokage. There was a long talk, mostly about his tenant.

"If more people know, especially your classmates, it will end badly. Very much like how most of the village treats you now."

Naruto had shuddered. Even more people hating him... It wasn't a thought he entertained.

"So... What do I do?"

The third set his pipe down, looking hard at the boy for a moment.

"What I'm going to say is going to be hard Naruto. You need to smarten up."

The blonde blinked. "what do you mean Gramps?"

"I mean your spirit is fiery, but it's to loose. You act stupid for attention, and it makes people think less of you."

Naruto winced. That hurt, coming from the old man.

"You earn respect and acknowledgement through deeds. And I'm not talking about defacing the Hokage Monument. Show your strength, show your initiative. Learn from others, despite of how they view you."

Naruto nodded, taking it in. It's true he never really tried to get attention any other way but through pranks...

"... You'll just throw up."

Naruto blinked, looking just as the teacher vanished in a swirl of leaves. He looked around as the other two were standing up.

"Wait, what just happened?"

Sasuke just grunted and turned, leaving. Before Sakura ran after him, Naruto called out. "Sakura-chan!"

She whirled on the boy, her eyes glaring hard. "For the last time Baka! I am not going out with you!"

Naruto winced then lowered his hand a bit. "I was just going to ask where we were supposed to meet..."

Sakura flicked her hair over her shoulder and sniffed.

"Training Ground 3, don't be late!"

And away she went. Naruto didn't have time to ask about what the throwing up meant, but he guessed it wasn't important. The blonde shrugged and headed home, hands in pockets.

The next day, Naruto ate, prepped for the day, and headed out for the training grounds. Sasuke and Sakura were already there, and Sakura was trying to woo the emo. Naruto frowned a little.

Learn from others, despite of how they view you.

He, apparently, was annoying to Sakura. And judging from Sasuke's face, he was annoyed by Sakura. With this in mind he stopped at the bridge they were on, and hopped up, sitting on the railing. Sakura whirled, about to shout, and Naruto raised a hand.

"morning you two. Sorry I'm late."

Sakura blinked. No begging for a date? No being annoying as usual? Sasuke on the other hand just grunted. For a while nobody said anything, until Naruto regarded the Uchiha.

"Sasuke, do you know any jutsus?"

Sakura took this moment to do the world a disfavor. She opened her mouth.

Not long after the innate chewing out, the Jounin showed up. After some small chatter, they were led deeper into the training grounds, and they were given a mission. Get two bells from Kakashi.

Some time later, and after horrible failure, the Jounin had them lined up, having just trampled each and every one of their attempts.

The three sat, heads down and all having a spread of different feelings. Naruto was feeling bad because both Sasuke and Sakura wouldn't even attempt to listen to him. Sasuke was feeling angry because the Jounin had beaten him. And Saukra was feeling mad because her teacher had dared to hurt her Sasuke-kun. Kakashi stood in front of them, arms crossed and looking down. He seemed... upset and disappointed.

"Can anyone tell me what you did wrong?"

Silence. Kakashi narrowed his eye. "Anyone? Sakura." The pinkette flinched at his tone. "Can you tell me what you and your teammates did wrong?" The girl averted her gaze. "Um... We... didn't get the bells?"

"Wrong." Her head jerked up, looking at the Jounin. "But-"

"Sasuke. What happened here?" The Uchiha glared up at man. "They got in my way... I could have handled you, and they interfered." Naruto gave a reproachful glance, and Sakura looked a little hurt. Kakashi sighed and rubbed his forehead. "No, wrong again." Another glare, but Kakashi ignored it. He looked at Naruto.

"Well?"

The blonde looked at the man and thought a moment. "... We didn't act like a team." Sasuke scoffed, adn Sakura looked at Naruto confused. Kakshi on the other hand sighed. "Close. You didn't act like a team, and that would have helped, but you STILL missed the major issue."

He turned, walking a few steps away and his hands in his pockets. "This mission was impossible." naruto frowned confused, and Sakura blew up.

"WHAT? But you told us-"

"I am your teacher. I make the rules, I don't have to abide by them." He turned and glared at the girl, causing her to shrivle back. "Seriously, you three? You really thought you stood a chance against a fully trained Jounin? Think about it for a moment." Naruto and Sakura looked down, it suddenly dawning on them. Sasuke only glared; he was Uchiha, and no one should be able to touch him. Kakashi went on. "You're not even real Ninja yet! You're academy graduates, you haven't even HAD a mission yet. And you honestly believe that ANY of you could do so much as approach me?"

Apparently they had screwed up enough to make the Jounin angry. "The mission was to say that this was impossible. You need to know when to not get in over your head, otherwise you are ALL dead. No your limits, push them but do NOT overestimate your opponent. That is one of the rules of the ninja." He rubbed his forehead, shaking his head at them. "Seriously, I had hoped to get competent students. You show promise, that's the only reason why I'm not sending you back to the academy."

Naruto visibly shivered. The thought of going back AGAIN after getting this far was a scary one. Kakashi took a breath and looked at the three. "Since none of you got the point of the mission, and since you are all so sure that you can somehow succeed, we're going to go with that." The three of them blinked.

"We are going to train. In taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, survival, camping, chakra, the whole works. And we are not going to do a single mission until you three can actually snag the bells."

Sasuke growled and Sukra gawked. "WHAT? JUST BECAUSE WE-" Kakashi's glare silenced ehr. Naruto on the other hand... felt pretty good. Training until they could beat Kakashi? It gave him plenty to learn.

"You three will now live in this training ground." He opened his arms up, gesturing around them. "It will be where you sleep, wake up, eat, train, everything. You will have one day out of the week to go into the village for whatever reason." Kakashi looked at the setting sun. "... you have tonight to get ready. Pack, and get a good night's sleep, as it will be your last for a long time."

And with that, the Jounin vanished in a swirl of leaves. Sasuke got up and started walking for the village. Sakura followed after him, hearts in her eyes that she would get to be camping with her beloved. Naruto stayed behind a step, stoppping to look around at the training ground that would be his new home. It wasn't so bad actually... considering he'd been homeless before and had to sleep in an alleyway. This would be fine. With an upbeat step the blonde headed home, eager for tomorrow to arive.

A/N

Ok, My retelling of Naruto. Been done, but not how I like it, so I'll be giving this a test drive. Also taking several hints from the EPIC fic Returning the Pain. (You are epic)

So yeah... Chapter 1 down.


End file.
